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Release No: 136-02March 22, 2002

DOD TO AWARD $15.7 MILLION FOR SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING RESEARCH

The Department of Defense (DoD) announced today plans to award $15.7 million to 29 academic institutions in 16 states to perform research in science and engineering fields important to national defense. Fifty-four projects were competitively selected under the fiscal 2002 Defense Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR). The program is designed to expand research opportunities in states that have traditionally received the least funding in federal support for university research. The average award will be approximately $291,000. All awards are subject to the successful completion of negotiations between DoD and the academic institutions.

University professors in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico were eligible to receive awards under this competition.

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Army Research Office, the Office of Naval Research and the Advanced Technology Development Directorate of the Missile Defense Agency solicited proposals using a defense-wide broad agency announcement. The DEPSCoR BAA was published on the Internet and accessed by the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research State Committees, which solicited and selected projects for each state's proposal. In response, 19 proposals consisting of 244 projects were submitted, requesting more than $79 million.